Volcano Hunting in Djibouti

So, for the next adventure I decided to do something different. We had been to Lake Asaal and Lake Ghoubet many times. Between the two locations is a vast wasteland full of sand, lava flows, gypsum and no shade. While ‘google earthing’ the area I came across a photo of a volcano. So, I spread the word that I wanted to find a volcano and didn’t know exactly where it was. That was enough, because I managed to convince 12 other people to drive for an hour and a half and wander across this wasteland in 100+ degree weather.

The plan was simple; I grabbed a couple GPS coordinates from Google Earth. One point of where to turn off of pavement and another point of the best idea I had for the ‘volcano’. We headed out and made our usual pee break at the Djibouti Grand Canyon. We waited for the third vehicle to catch up and were hassled to buy more geodes and obsidian. The third vehicle showed up and shortly after we were on our way.

After verifying that what I thought was the road was in fact the road (also known as turning around), we drove down and started our journey. I knew we would have to hike anywhere from one to three miles because I did not know the condition of the ‘road’ heading towards our destination. We made it about 300 yards before we decided that the van in our caravan should probably not have left the pavement.

So, we started on foot. To my surprise, a large group started down the road. The only thing they forgot was the person who studied the path on Google Earth and the guy with GPS. So, after grabbing one last bottle of water to compliment the three liters on my back and swapping the GPS batteries, the rest of us started the hike.

Once we got a higher view to compare with the printout I had. I asked Q what his GPS said we should do. We were both in agreement and we decided that taking the road was definitely not the fastest way to our destination. Of course the other group was about ½ a mile down the road at this point so we figured we would show them why it’s a good idea to wait for the guys with the map/GPS.

We headed over a hill and across a gypsum and sand flat. Once across that, our destination was easy to see. Not to our surprise, we arrived at the volcano long before the first group who had stopped and waited for us before finally realizing that we probably went straight there rather than following the winding road.

We toured the rim of the volcano and a few of us climbed to the bottom of the crater. After many photos and some lava scraped hands and knees, one of us had the idea to climb down the volcano and go check out this stuff a mile away. After some uneasy thoughts, everyone followed the lead like good lemmings and down we went.

The only flaw in our plan was not realizing that the 460 foot descent would be followed by a 460 foot ascent. Well…maybe there were several flaws if you add the heat and amount of water carried to it. Down we went and everyone explored some new areas. By this point we were around 230 feet below sea level. Though I do not know what the exact temperature was, we had two readings from 96 to 109F. My internal thermometer read: 'really f'ing hot you idiot!'.

We were finally ready to head back. We had made it about 4 miles to this point. Now all we had to do was hike back. That is where it started to get uncomfortable. The wind was probably blowing about 30 miles in our faces most of the way back. Add that it was 100+F wind full of sand and it was not quite ideal conditions. We made it up to about sea level before the first break. Though shade was nowhere to be found, there were plenty of hot rocks to sit on.

We made a few more stops along the way and ate some Nutter Butters and drank water…Lots of water. We made one last stop finding the only shade in Djibouti before making the final push. We chose the more direct return route and finally made it back to the vehicles. The last obstacle was getting the van out and heading back to CLUville. In the end it was a great trip and it turns out that we probably would have been able to make it a 300 yard hike by driving our Escapes close. But, it was a great way to spend a Sunday in Djibouti and burn a few thousand calories at the same time.

  

96 Hour Liberty Trip - Dolphin Excursions Liveaboard pt. 5

Day 4 – 3/29/12

The night was long and I still couldn’t sleep past 6. The view of the night sky every night was a beautiful change of pace from the light polluted sky at Camp Lemonnier. This morning would start off with the best dive of the trip. ‘Sec De Ca Pass’ or ‘Le Sec aux Boutres’ is a reef that comes up from the surrounding deep in the middle of the Gulf of Tadjoura on the approach to Lake Ghoubet. Since it’s surrounded by deeper water, there is no silt to knock down the visibility and you could see the reef, sitting 90 feet below, from the surface. Unfortunately, by this time, I had almost stopped taking pictures and was shooting video. You’ll have to wait for the video to see it.

After the dive, we returned to the Deli for breakfast and some sunglasses took a plunge over the side. I grabbed a mask and saw them slowly settling below but could not reach them without fins. By the time anyone had full snorkel gear, they had disappeared. Much discussion was had and despite the odds, Christine and I took off in search of the glasses below. The bets started against us but no one would take my side. Too bad these bets occurred after we had left because I would have gladly taken up the bet. Two minutes later, the glasses were found and I had a name for the location of our previous days, night-dive.

After our victory breakfast, we headed to ‘Stony Cove’. This was another great dive. The reef was full of life. There was a friendly turtle that swam by to check us out. We spent almost an hour enjoying the sites and finished it off with a faceoff.

The last dive of the day would take us back to ‘Ras Korali’. The dive started off with photos from both sides of a huge pufferfish. There were more eels and a four legged starfish. I found an Octopus pretending to be the reef and finally gave up hoping he was going to catch a meal while I videoed.

  

The dive ended and it was time to head back to port. It was a great trip and the best way I could think of to take some time away from the day-to-day at Camp. I highly recommend it if you’re ever stuck in Djibouti. 

  

96 Hour Liberty Trip - Dolphin Excursions Liveaboard pt. 4

Day 3 – 3/28/12

I slept better the second night than the first, but I still managed to only sleep until about 6:00 AM. The morning started off the same as the previous morning, Ethiopian coffee, crumbly snack cake and the Deli heading towards ‘The Crack’.

This time, the site was marked prior to getting in the water and we submerged straight to the crack. Again, starting about 100 feet, we swam above, in and through the crack. It was a good dive but I have no photos. I have a lot of video that I took during the trip that I have yet to edit. Eventually, I’ll edit it, post it and you can see ‘The Crack’.

Next was breakfast and a cruise through Lake Ghoubet to Star Bay. The next dive was ‘Star Point’. After a couple hours of rest we jumped into the skiffs and headed to the site. This site was full of fish and colorful coral.

After ‘Star Point’, we took a short jump across Lake Ghoubet back to ‘Red Virgin’. We had one last dive there and explored yet another section of the reef that we had yet to see. It was another great dive. We finished up and the Deli headed through the entrance to Lake Ghoubet, back to the Bay of Tadjoura. The next stop was unnamed and we’ll call it ‘Christine’s Glasses’.

After painting a terrible picture, the realization that two people were doing a night dive became apparent and my buddy and I loaded up into the skiff. This site was packed with Elkhorn Coral (or some type of horn coral). Resting in the branches were plenty of sleeping parrotfish, angelfish and plenty of other fishes. The highlight of the evening was not the ton of blue spotted rays. It was not the crazy looking fish that I’ll have to identify later nor was it the lurking barracuda that hugged the edge of our flashlights. Nope, it was the filefish. Not only was the filefish nice enough to let me capture a great video of it taking anice long poop, but it was kind enough to let me pet it. I soon discovered that filefish have somewhat of a temper. Rather you say it was anger, malicious intent, or just simple self-defense; as soon as I grabbed it around the ‘shoulders’, it returned it's capture with a super hard headbutt/bite to the forehead. Maybe it was pissed about the candid video shot earlier. For more than a week, the top of my forehead would bear the proof of why you do not mess with fish.

After the dive, we enjoyed our last dinner onboard and followed it up with drinks, cigars and fishing. Several small fish were caught and then the dry spell hit. It didn’t seem to matter what we did, we couldn’t catch anything. After a while, everyone disappeared and that was when the monster struck. I instantly knew this was a nice fish. Once it reached the surface, I crossed my fingers that the line wouldn’t break while I desperately reached for the 6’ leader. Once I had the leader, I knew the fish was mine. This was a beauty of a Red Snapper and the crew would surely enjoy this. After a fish like that, it was time to call it a night.